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The Office Review: Flowers Arranging Themselves

If we were conducting Catherine Tate's The Office performance review like Nellie Bertram did of her employees at Dunder Mifflin Scranton - that is, on first impressions - she would also be receiving a raise.

Tate's first appearance last season was intriguing, and her stint as head honcho down in Florida was entertaining, but in "Get the Girl" it became obvious that Nellie Bertram as branch manager could be exactly what The Office needs to stay afloat.

She is very strange, but not in a way that is too similar to Michael Scott or Andy Bernard, nor in a way that is just too slow and boring most of the time like Robert California. Nellie proved she was upbeat, off the walls and that she can create a lot of weird situations for our favorite paper suppliers.

The way that she took charge and took over Andy's office was great. The meeting she ran, in which she used some weird voices and gave Kevin an awful nickname, was funny. Giving every one there a raise even though she had no authority might have been the best of all.

It may be moot in the future, because James Spader isn't returning after this season, but Bertram brought out some of the best in California. His reluctance to stop her in any capacity was fantastic, and the fact that he just wanted to see how this experiment would play out was maybe my favorite Robert moment of the season.

The grand finale of it all, when Nellie used a pretty spot on Tinker Bell metaphor to get the entire office behind her, was simply a nice icing to this comedic cake. I'm sure half of the office didn't have a clue what was going on - Kevin and Creed come to mind - but their enthusiasm towards her in that moment might be what keeps Nellie at Andy's desk long term.

Speaking of the a capella enthusiast, Andy spent the entire episode in Florida bringing Erin back to Scranton. I have been one of the biggest Erin supporters for years now, but her shtick is even wearing thin a bit on me.

This story was fine, but it didn't have the effect on me that I think the writers were going for. It wasn't emotional, which might have to do with how goofy Andy and Erin are as characters. I'm certainly glad that Erin's returning to the office, because she is still hilarious at times, but this plot definitely didn't click on all cylinders.

There were a few other one-off jokes thrown into the mix. My favorites were Dwight accepting the outcome of Darryl throwing him out of his office, Irene giving Andy the third degree about having a girlfriend and Toby introducing himself to Nellie as Tony.

What were your thoughts on "Get the Girl?" Relive some of the hilarity in our The Office quotes section, and then sound off in the comments.

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Just started watching the Office recently and I'm at the episodes with Nellie. This is really getting unbearable. What the fuck were the writers and casting people thinking?

jesse•November 07, 2014 16:11

I loved Nelly! (Catherine Tate) to me she was a perfect edition, she was like a perfect twist. Andy was like a bad imitation of Michael Scott. No one could have replaced Michael ever. But Nelly was refreshing and different, she made the show feel like earlier seasons, but modern at the same time. No can accept change, a lot of the people that hated Nelly should have stopped watching after Michael left.

ok, first off i too hate nellie, but i do understand the reasoning for having her in the show initially, to create some kind of tension to drive the plot at the end of last season/beginning of this one. she imposed a barrier andy had to overcome to get his rightful place back as manager. so for that alone i can understand why the writers needed such a god awful character. but at this point she is just ruining the show for me. she served her purpose in the plot and now the writers have kept her on because they seem to like her character even though she doesn't add anything to the show anymore. now all she does is make the show painful for me to watch because they've unsuccesfully tried to make her likeable by showing her more "human" side with this whole adoption business. and what's worse, they make andy actually show her mercy and pity which pisses me off to no end because they never managed to make her character likeable. it's really hard to expect an audience to care about a character after she's treated another well established and really likeable character so badly. i have no idea why the writers of this show thought they needed to keep nellie on the show, it has ruined this season for me.

Nellie Sux•August 31, 2012 05:23

Nellie is the worst character that has ever been on the office. She destroyed the show. I will never watch again.

Steve•July 02, 2012 20:27

Please please please get rid of Catherine Tate. She is absolutely creepy and disturbing. Her moments of sexual overtness are gross. When she her character was telling Robert California about getting used to hearing "no" which makes "yes" sound so good I swear my testicles ascended. I'm still waiting for them to re-descend. For the love of God and my testicles, please get rid of her.

Trippy•June 23, 2012 19:33

I love the Office! Every season I have laughed! But I knew as soon as she made her first appearance in season 7, getting interviewed for the branch manager, she was horrid. I was happy when she wasn't chosen... But they brought her back? Why?? She is a horrible character and I think, this is my opinion, that she'll kill the show. -.- I can't watch another season if she's in it. She's so annoying. Not the Micheal funny annoying, but the actual annoying. I'd compare it to a gnat. Take her off the show!

Get Rid of Nellie•June 20, 2012 07:03

I have to agree that the Nellie character is very bad. I think the problem is that all of the other characters are amalgams of people we have met, including people in our own offices. But Nellie does not seem to be based on any real person or collection of persons, it is just a ridiculous character which has no relation to anything. I think adding Nellie was an act of laziness where it's easy to throw in some kind of oddball character without putting any thought into character development. I am sure we are supposed to now sympathize with Nellie because she is adopting a child or whatever but that doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the character development and is just another incongruous thing that doesn't make sense. Delete Nellie. Put some more thought and effort into the writing - new characters are okay, but need to have some thought put into them. (Maybe it's time for Packer to come back?)

Scott Rebarb•June 04, 2012 00:28

I hate Catherine Tate and her Nellie character. I will never watch The Office ever again as long as she's on it.

Joe•May 15, 2012 03:41

The C Tate. hate is crazy. This season has been a complete dud. I've watched The Office since season 1 and re-watched it a million times. I'm so surprised how some of you are saying that this season is funny or interesting. The only episodes that were bearable were the Florida episodes and the ones with Nellie. This season has been completely un-watchable, even though I love all of the original characters, the writing has been awful. Nellie's character is the only reason I haven't given up on The Office.